Scans of various items from my life and written about each day in 2011.
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www.daveshungerstrike.blogspot.com

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Notes from a junior at Boston College

First of all, I have to apologize to my father. Dad, if I knew then what I know now, I would have studied a lot more and obviously would have made better choices with alcohol. I'm sorry that under the circumstances I wasn't able to realize how lucky I was to be receiving that education - an education you provided to me and for a school that rivaled the one you went to. Thank you for always providing for me and continuing to be one of my biggest supporters. I hope this makes you laugh...

It's pretty easy to figure out when I started and stopped drinking by looking at my transcript from Boston College (you'll have to wait for that scan in a later blog). Junior year was a year that I drank a lot. Although I told myself I was more in control because I drank "just beer" instead of the vodka I drank sophomore year, I still really liked getting drunk...a lot. And although I rarely got drunk during the week or went to class drunk, it definitely had an effect on my academics. Exhibit one, a page from my junior year notebook:

I guess by writing "I'm screwed on the midterm" I wasn't too confident going into into it. But at least "these notes suck" shows I was aware that my "note taking" really wasn't helping the situation.

What I didn't know then was that I wasn't the only one in the class severely slacking on studying for this midterm. My future friend Scott (who I didn't hang out with until senior year) was also not ready for the test. In fact, he and his friend had a bet: Whoever got a lower score on the midterm didn't have to pay for their upcoming road trip to see the Islanders play at the Whalers. His friend was first to go up and get his test back, and triumphantly smiled as he showed Scott his 7 (Yes, that's based out of 100). Scott was pretty sure he failed too, but was getting ready to treat his friend to the hockey game. That all changed when Scott saw his grade...a 3.

So, I hope all of you BC, HC, and whatever C students realize how lucky you are to be receiving your education. I am glad to report that even with his 3, Scott graduated from BC, has led a successful life, and is a very happy "New Dad". Dad, if more fathers were like you, there would be a lot less problems in the world...thanks for everything.

In case anyone was wondering, the "Cynical Fuck" on the cover is the name of an Extreme song on their album that came out that year.